


It started as a dream.

by midtcwn



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-08
Updated: 2020-06-14
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:00:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 12,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23543518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/midtcwn/pseuds/midtcwn
Summary: Stephen Strange was...tricky, in Tony’s opinion, to say the least.He was tall. He had black hair (Which Tony has had to convince Stephen not to dye grey at the sides on multiple occasions.) and gave off many mixed signals. He'd seen Stephen with his ex-girlfriend, Christine, and knew he wasn't the most obvious about his feelings but he was a whole new extreme.Some days, Stephen would be sweet. Offer to carry books for him, stick with him the whole day. Other times, he would avoid him and barely look at him. And it didn't upset Tony. Just...confused him.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers, Pepper Potts & Tony Stark, Pepper Potts/Natasha Romanov, Peter Parker & Tony Stark, Peter Parker/Mary Jane Watson, Tony Stark/Stephen Strange
Comments: 24
Kudos: 82





	1. New beginnings.

You see, Tony Stark doesn't like school. Just because he's a genius doesn't mean he enjoys it. That's like saying every actor likes Hollywood! He would say...Okay, analogies were never his thing, but he does try at least.

But he enjoys school a lot more than being at home, with his lousy excuse for a father and his mom he hardly ever sees. 

At school, he's surrounded by people who actually care about him.

But of course, he would never admit that, especially not to like likes of Stephen Strange or Peter Parker.

Stephen Strange was...tricky, in Tony’s opinion, to say the least.

He was tall. He had black hair (Which Tony has had to convince Stephen not to dye grey at the sides on multiple occasions.) and gave off many mixed signals. He'd seen Stephen with his ex-girlfriend, Christine, and knew he wasn't the most obvious about his feelings but he was a whole new extreme. 

Some days, Stephen would be sweet. Offer to carry books for him, stick with him the whole day. Other times, he would avoid him and barely look at him. And it didn't upset Tony. Just...confused him. 

Peter on the other hand...Well. How does one explain Peter Parker?

The bubbly ball of sunshine Tony's decided to take under his wing. That just about does it. I mean, when he saw that Flash guy picking on him and his friends, was he supposed to just watch? He knows what that's like, there's no way he's letting that happen. 

Tony is popular, you could say. Or at least kids leave him alone. He has his friend group, that's all he needs. Rhodes, Nat, Peter & Co, Pep, Happy and Stephen. That's all he needs. 

He used to be friends with Steve until...Until things happened. 

Only they know what happened. To everyone else, they just suddenly stopped hanging around each other and that was the end of it. 

Tony doesn't like to think about it because it gives him nightmares. He has a lot of nightmares now, and just paranoia in general, so when he wakes up to a message from Peter saying "GET TO SCHOOL NOW" He's reasonably slightly worried. 

He changes and leaves his house quietly, careful not to wake his mother sleeping in their bedroom and his dad blacked out drunk on the couch. He doesn't bring lunch because he doesn't eat it. Pepper or Stephen will probably bring him something anyway. 

He has tech today, so that's good. Building stuff is his thing. He tries to focus on that rather than the mess of thoughts in his brain.

It takes him a while to walk there, but when he gets there he goes to Peters locker because that's the place he most likely is.

And he was right because while walking down the hall, he notices Peter anxiously looking around and wincing almost constantly.

"Hey, are you alright kid?" Tony asks as he gets in front of Peter and puts a hand on his shoulder. He flinches and looks up, and nods. But too fast. He's clearly scared or anxious about something. "I'm so good Tony. Listen, I need your help." The older of the two slowly nodded and swung his arm around Peters's shoulders instead and started walking with him out to the gazebo outside where some kids eat their lunch. There was way too long before school actually started. "Okay....why? It's not homework, is it? God, it better not is homework, Peter. I thought I raised you better than this." He's trying to make jokes to calm him down, and when Peter shakes his head muttering. "No, not homework. I wish." with a slight smile, Tony is just glad it worked.

When they sat down. opposite each other, Tony started the conversation. "So, what's the deal youngling?" Peter swallowed thickly and looked down at the table. "You're...You're gonna think I'm crazy. It's probably nothing-" "Well it's definitely something from how you're acting." Tony inquisitively raised an eyebrow at him. "C'mon. What's up." Peter took a deep breath before he began.

"Basically, I was just walking home yesterday and then I felt this weird stinging pain on my finger, right? So I looked down at my hand and there was this weird spider on it, like black but with all these red and blue markings on it. So I just swatted it off, feeling kind of "well that's weird." about it, but got a really good sandwich and forgot about it. You following?"

Tony nodded and motioned his hand in a way of telling him to continue.

"Good. Okay so I get home, my aunt goes to work, my uncle was already working, so I do some of my homework and eat leftovers from in the fridge. I go back to do my homework, but I start feeling really sick and dizzy. Then I just pass out, right? So I wake up, and everything is like, really really loud, and all the lights are too bright, and I accidentally took the door handle off my door without meaning to, I'm sticking to stuff I just. I don't know what's going on and the only people I could think to ask was you and Stephen because you're both like, the smartest people I know. So he'll be here soon and I just don't know what's wrong with me."

There's only one thing going through Tony's head right now.

What in the everloving fuck does any of that mean?!

"Kid I don't know how to help I mean...Are you sure?" Peter sighs and the grabs Tonys hand when he still doesn't look sure. "Kid-" "Armwrestle me. I'll show you that I'm stronger." 

Seriously? Tony pinches his nose with his free hand and then nods. "Okay. 3, 2, 1, go." It doesn't even take a second before Peter slams his hand into the table. "S-sorry Tony I didn't mean to do it that hard but...You see what I mean now right?" Tony nods and looks up when he sees a tall figure approaching.

For some reason, he thought it might be his dad for a quick second.

Instead, thankfully, it was Stephen.

Tony blushed slightly and moved his hand from under Peters, trying not to make it evident he just lost an arm wrestle to a kid 2 years younger than him and smirks a little, trying to seem way calmer and suaver than he is. "Hey, Steph." "Hey, Tones." The nickname just makes Tony blush more and look down again as Stephen focuses his attention on Peter, who's looking wildly between the two of them. 

Peter knows they both like each other. Or only Tony at least. They're in love and Peter knows it. He just doesn't know how to get both of them to realise they love each other. He's asked Tony about it, and he denies it every time, and Peter gives him a little smirk to let him know how wrong Tony is. 

He's seen how they sneak glances at each other when the other isn't looking, and how their eyes light up when they get to talk about each other. It's adorable, really. But Peter knows Tony would say the same thing about him and MJ. 

Peter can tell they're even blushing right now, but Stephen starts talking why did you call me at 6 am this morning Peter just to tell me to come to school and then hang up?" Peter went a little red, embarrassed, as Tony's head jerks up again to look at Peter.

"You called him first?" Peter nodded. "W-Well yeah, his name showed up first in my contacts so..." "Yeah but you've known me for longer. I'm insulted, Parker. I thought we went to each other first with our problems." The youngest squinted at Tony. "...I honestly can't tell if you're joking or not."

Stephen ley out his signature, long, heavy, disappointed sounding sigh and the other two went quiet.

Stephen wasn't a very patient person.

"Peter. What happened? Are you okay? Sick?"

Peter shakes his head and takes a deep breath before telling the story. Again.


	2. Uncle Ben.

Tony, Stephen and Peter have been working together to try and figure out what the reason is for the powers. It doesn't make sense, because it's a spider. Most people have been bitten by a spider, no one gets goddamned powers. 

Tony would do research, but most of the technology he can get to, his dad would be so so so mad if he found out he used it for anything. And his dad looks though his phone any chance he gets- especially when he's drunk- so Tony wasn't gonna risk researching that. And things seemed like they were going fine...

Until around 3 days after Peter told them about the Spider Situation.

vvvv

vvvv

Tony groaned loudly as he grabbed for his phone. When he lifted his head, his chemistry book fell from under his face and made a crash on the floor. Too loud. He looked up at his door. 

vvvv

He unplugged his phone so he could lift his bed's covers over his head, and put his headphones in so he could answer the call he was getting at 2 am without being heard, and hoping his dad was too blackout drunk to hear the crash of his textbook. 

"Peter? What the hell? It's 2 am!" He whispers into his headphone mic. "You shouldn't even be up right now." 

But Tony's entire mood changed when he heard a kind of sob sound from Peter. 

"Pete? You okay?"

"I'm sorry j-just I thought of you first but i-it's stupid don't worry-"

"No Pete no, are you home? I'm on my way." Tony hung up, got his coat on and slipped his shoes on his feet.

He quietly opened his window and crawled out onto the windowsill. "Ooooh yikes." He muttered under his breath, using one hand to pull his coat tighter around him and looks how far down the floor is.

Meanwhile, Peter was crying in his room, clutching a blood-stained jacket to his chest and sobbing into it, completely curled up.

He felt bad for calling Tony, but he didn't know who else to call. It was all he could do.

Tony tore through the deserted and cold fields. Peter Peter Peter. They live in entirely different places, so it was gonna take Tony quite a while. He could get a lift...or steal his dad car. But the consequences of that were not something he was about to risk if he's being honest. But he ran as fast as he physically could to get to him.

When he finally did, he messaged Peter saying he was outside his apartment's door. "Can you let me in please kid?"

There's a pretty long time before Peter sniffs loudly as he opens the door, and Tony immediately hugs him, he's sobbing on Tony's shoulder and all he can do is rock him and rub his back.

"Are you okay kid? What's going on?" He leans back after Peter doesn't respond, and holds his cheeks in his hands. "I'm gonna need you to tell me what's going on so I can help okay? Let's go to your room." Peter nods and starts showing Tony the way there. 

Tony hasn't been in Peters apartment before. He never knew why, but in the nicest way possible he's starting to suspect. 

It's a lot smaller than anyone else's houses or apartments out of all his friends. Well. Steve isn't really the richest but it was bigger than this. It's nice, homey, it's just not what Tony is used to. And now he sounds so snobby oh god. This kid is crying in front of him what is he doing thinking about this?

When Peter sits on his bed Tony sits too and hugs him. "Pete you gotta tell me what's going on." Peter nods. "He- Ben- He got s-shot. I could have saved him but I-I didn't know how to use my powers and they o-overwhelmed me so I couldn't d-do anything!" He sobs again and looks down, running a hand through his hair and Tony puts his arms around his shoulders instead and hugs him like that. 

"Pete, kid, I-I'm so sorry. I really am. But it's not your fault-" 

"Yes, it is Tony!" Peter shot up, his hands moving up from his sides in an angry motion. 

"If I'd have gotten over myself and not been so useless I could have saved him! What's the point of these stupid powers if I can't use them properly?!" Tony flinches and Peter sits down harshly on his desk the other side of the room and props his feet up on the desk chair. 

Tony hates people shouting. 

A lot. 

"Peter please don't shout. I know you're stressed and scared and feeling guilty but shouting isn't helping, okay? None of this is your fault." 

Tony goes over to him and Peter sniffs loudly. "I just. It feels like I don't get a break." He cries again and leans in to Tony, and the older quickly wraps his arms around him and takes a deep breath, running his fingers through his hair. "I know kid. I know." 

They stay hugging for a while. "You want me to stay the night Pete?" 

He nods, so Tony rubs his back and then sees something on the floor behind Peter. "Hey...What is that?" Peter sniffs again as Tony pulls away, and beelines to a piece of red and blue fabric. 

"A-uuuh nothing!" He runs and goes to grab it but Tony snatches it up before him. 

It's a. A onesie? A red and blue onesie. With....with goggles?

"Peter seriously what is this? Some cool new fashion trend or-" Peter seized the 'onesie' and threw it in the back of his closet. "Nothing it- it's really nothing...just. Well, when I got my powers I thought helping people would be the right thing to do...so...." 

Tony looked at him with a bewildered expression. 

"You mean, you put on a...a fashion statement outfit and it helps people?" "N-no! It's a disguise. I go out there and...and beat bad people up when they're trying to do something." 

He stares at Peter again. Then he starts laughing. 

"What? What's so funny? Why're you laughing?!" 

Tony laughs harder and grips onto the edge of the desk and collapsed in the chair, and stops laughing before saying what he's actually laughing at.

"Just. Do you fight crime in that? Peter...Peter no. How about you come over to mine sometime? Not tonight obviously but uh..." 

He tries to think of a day his dads out of town. 

"...Friday. My house is free on Friday so you should come over then. I can help you make a proper suit. My dad has like..a place he has all his ideas for building stuff and he makes it there. There's tons of stuff we could use there to make it."

Tony smiles softly at the younger and can tell he's thinking about it. Tony knows he can't stop him. He's known Peter long enough to know he's too stubborn and good to give up on doing something so kind. But he can help him, and make sure he doesn't die before he graduates. 

"...Okay. Friday after school I'll see if I can come over." 

Tony smiles bigger and hugs him again, patting his back. 

"Great!" They're quiet until Peter pulls away this time. "Hey uh. Thank you, Tony. For all the stuff you've done. And for coming over tonight. It means a lot." Tony pulls him back into a hug tighter. "Course...So where am I sleeping?"


	3. The sleepover.

It's Friday. Finally. Tony's been waiting for this day all week. He's been getting suit designs holograms ready while his dad sleeps, and he's made sure everything is right. Jarvis has helped him do it all secretly too, telling Tony his dads night routine. Tony thought he was all set. Then Peter told him something that threw him off. 

"Oh, I invited Stephen to come over today too." Peter told Tony at lunch, and Tony choked on the sandwich that Pepper had so kindly brought him. 

"You're kidding. Oh god, I wasn't ready for Stephen to be there. You to be there, not Stephen." He groaned loudly, throwing his head back and Nat lightly slaps his arm. "You're being a dramatic dumbass as usual. We all know you have the biggest crush on Stephen so why aren't you glad-" "I do not have a crush on Stephen!" Tony said, probably a little too loudly. 

"Mmm yeah, you do." Peter shrugs and Tony glares at him. "Shut it kiddo and drink your chocolate milk." Peter glares back and throws the carton directly at Tony's head. "I told you don't call me kiddo! And- uh- you absolutely have a crush on Stephen." Tony rubbed his head where the chocolate milk hit him. "But the chocolate milk was unnecessary." "I was trying to knock some sense into you."

Nat interrupted their bickering by taking the chocolate milk, poking the straw through it and drinking from it. 

"That was my chocolate milk, Nat!" "Shh." She holds up a finger to Peter's face, and when he slaps it out the way the redhead glares. "Sorry, Nat." Natasha nodded and kept drinking. 

"So anyway, why is Peter going over anyway? Is there some kind of party I'm not invited to?" "Course it's not that, you are the party, Nat. It's uh..."

Now, this is where Tony has to come up with a lie that Nat will believe, which is just about as hard as finding a needle in a haystack. 

"My parents are out of town, so I just wanted some company that wouldn't demolish my microwave." "That was one time Tony!" "One time too many!" 

Tony goes back to eating his sandwich and Peter picks at his food. "So she breaks microwaves and steals chocolate milk?" This time Peter is the one to get a carton thrown at his head, and Stephen is the one who comes and interrupts it. 

"If one of you throws anything at me- including a milk carton- I will stop being friends with you." The tallest of the lot sits down and gives Tony a kind of smile. 

It can't be described as a full-on smile because...it's not. It's like he's trying to smile but then also he kind of doesn't really want to.

This is what Tony means when he says Stephen is confusing. I mean, why can't the guy just smile without it being so damn complicated and make Tony overthink it? And why does everyone think he has a crush on him? Sure Stephen's attractive but...He doesn't have a crush on him. 

"Hi, Stephen. So you're coming over tonight?" Stephen looks up at Tony again and nods. "Well, I assumed I was since Peter invited  
me. Am I?" Tony coughed and sat up straighter. "If you want, feel free to." Then it hits Tony. 

How are they gonna work on the suit if Stephen is there? Does Stephen already know? Does anyone else already know? Tony is sure he remembers him and Peter making a deal that they wouldn't tell anyone else. 

Tony had zoned out while everyone at the table started a conversation. He just needs to talk to Peter now. "Hey, Pete!" The kid looks over and expects a milk carton to get thrown at him, but Tony pulls him up and walks somewhere with just him and out of earshot from the other guys. 

"Does Stephen know?" Peter looks confused. "Know what?" "The whole spider-man thing! I know he knows about the powers but about the suit thing." Peter makes an "Ooooh" sound as he gets what Tony means. "Uh. Maybe? Maybe I told him about it? Maybe? Perhaps?" Tony sighs and blinks slowly. "I thought...I thought we said we weren't gonna tell anyone else?" Peters mouth just opens and closes this time before he forms words. "W-well I figured Stephen could know because...you and Stephen are different than the rest of the group." "What does that mean?" Then Tony realises.

"Ooh. You still think I have a crush on Stephen- I don't! Now let's forget about that. Please."

Peter smirked a little and nodded. "Sure, okay." and sat back down. That was the end of that conversation.

•—•

The bell for the end of school rolled around, and Tony pulled his bag over his shoulder and left the classroom before anyone else. He won't deny it, he's excited. It's gonna be fun I mean, they can order pizza, Tony will finally be able to do something he's kind of good at, he can make sure Peter's not gonna die, and he also gets to spend time with Stephen. 

He said that he'd wait outside of school at the gate for them, so that's what he does, saying bye to varying friends that were leaving, and shooting finger guns as Rhodey as he walked away after their handshake.

Then he feels a shove on his shoulder and almost steadies himself before he falls on the floor. 

Almost.

He hits the floor with a thud and doesn't need to look around to find out who did it. He knows it was Steve. But he doesn't care much anymore. 

Before most people can notice and laugh, Peter runs over and holds out his hand to Tony up.

"Hey man, you okay?" Tony nods and grabs Peters hand to pull him up. When he's on his feet again that's luckily when Stephen comes over. 

Tony lets go of his hand and fold his arms over the other. 

"I'm okay...thank you." Peter nods and when he sees Stephen there too he smiles. "Okay, I have so much stuff to tell you. And I have loads of designs put down that I've wanted to do for ages but didn't have the materials too. That cool?"

Tony snapped back into the conversation. He had been looking at Stephen the whole time, who he hoped hadn't noticed. 

"Uh. Yeah kid, sure. No problem." He wasn't entirely sure what he'd just agreed to, but it was Peter, so it couldn't be that bad. He's not gonna destroy his dad's lab or anything...

He hopes.

—•—

"-And I couldn't believe it, I mean. She always calls me and Ned losers, so why did she stick up for us when Flash called me one?" Tony held his hand out for a pencil and Peter handed it to him. 

"Well, to me, it sounds like this MJ girl likes you, and-"  
"As a friend?"  
Tony shook his head as he sketched out a spider design to put on the actual suit, which was already made.  
"No, kid. As in like. Crush like."  
Peter goes red and starts stammering. He's saying something but it's all nonsense to Tony. 

He obviously likes this girl. "You should ask her out."  
"I don't like her!"  
Tony turns around and sees Peter is basically a shade of crimson.  
"Yeah, you do. You reeeallly like her."  
Peter glares even harder and Stephen comes down the stairs, putting his phone in his pocket after ordering pizza.  
"From what I heard, you have a huge crush on her."  
"Okay, why are we even talking about it?"


	4. The dream.

Tony packs the pizza boxes up and puts them in the trash bag in his dad's workshop. Stephen sat down on the couch and Peter sat next to him about an hour ago and they both fell asleep there. Stephen has his arm wrapped around Peter's shoulders and Tony decided not to disturb them. He just puts a blanket over them so they can stay warm and gets his phone out. Would it be weird to take a photo? 

No, he can use it as blackmail.

...

Definitely just for blackmail. Why else wouldn't take one? 

He takes many photos, just to make sure he has enough, and then goes upstairs to his room. 

"Hey JARVIS?" He asks and a blue light turns on in his room so he knows he's active.

"Hello sir. Anything I can do for you?" 

Tony nods as he takes his shirt off and changes into what he normally wears to bed. 

A different T-shirt and boxers. So there's not really any point changing but his shirt smells like greasy pizza and it's starting to make him gag a little. 

"Yeah uh, make sure no alerts go off downstairs in the lab. My friends are sleeping down there. And can you set me an alarm for 9 am? I can make them breakfast." 

"Done, sir." Tony smiles as he gets into bed. 

"Thank you, Jarvis."

The light goes out and Tony gets comfy, turning off the lamp beside his bed and closing his eyes. He did a lot of work today on Peter suit and they designed a better web shooter. Maybe they can continue tomorrow? 

Tony keeps the happy thought of him and his friends working on the suit as he falls asleep. 

"Morning!" Tony hears as he heads downstairs, and sees Stephen making two cups of coffee. 

Tony looks down and realises he's wearing one of Stephen's shirt. It's just plain grey, but he likes it. It compliments Stephens skin tone, and now it reaches halfway down Tony's thighs. 

Stephen hands him the cup of coffee and then kisses Tony. 

On the lips. 

No warning, no anything, just kisses him on the lips. 

It's short and sweet, chaste, but it leaves Tony wanting to kiss him more. 

"What...Uhm what was that for?" The shorter of the pair can feel his cheeks reddening as he looks up at Stephen, who just shrugs and drinks the rest of the coffee. 

"Just felt like kissing you, babe. I like seeing how flustered you get." 

Tony smiles at Stephen as he starts to walk over to the library, still in Tony's house. 

"I love you!" Tony blurts out before he can stop himself. It seems like it will be a big deal. 

But...It's not. 

Stephen just turns around and smiles back at him. "I love you too. Don't let your coffee get cold."

Tony then slowly opens his eyes to the feeling of the sun bright on his eyes. There's an alarm going off and he groans. It's a Saturday, why is there an alarm going off?

"I'm awake JARVIS." He grunts and rolls over to the other side of the bed. 

"Good morning sir. You asked me to wake you up at 9 am, so I have. You said about wanting to make Peter Parker and Stephen Strange breakfast?" Tony nods slowly as he remembers, and then his eyes widen as he realises something else. 

The dream. 

The fucking dream!

He sits up abruptly and starts getting dressed quickly. "Are you alright sir? Your heart rate seems to have spiked drastically." 

Tony nods before he realises that JARVIS is a built-in AI, and he doesn't know if Tony's nodding or not. 

"Y-yeah I'm fine uh, you wouldn't happen to know anything about the..the meaning of dreams, would you?" 

Tony wears the same shirt he slept in and some sweatpants on his floor as he heads downstairs. 

"Well sir, it's not one of my specialities, but I am knowledgable on just about everything so I could find something out for you."

Stark scoffs in response as he gets to the kitchen but does make an effort to start being a little quieter so he doesn't wake up Peter or...Or Stephen. 

Why was the dream about Stephen?!

"You don't need to brag. I just wanna know if there's any significance of dreaming about uh dating someone who you're only friends with in your actual awake life."

There's a pause from the AI, and Tony turns the coffee machine on and getting things out he needs for breakfast. 

"A book published in 2006 by Theresa Cheung titled 'The Dream Dictionary from A to Z' says that dreaming about being in love with a friend, colleague, or even just an acquaintance, could mean you feel drawn to that person in an unconscious way but ignore those feelings in waking life because of ignorance or fear." 

Tony pauses before he continues as before, cracking an egg over the pan and shaking his head. "Yeah well, what does Theresa Cheung know about dreams?" 

"Probably more than you sir."

Yeah sure. I mean yes Theresa definitely knows more about dreams meanings than him but she doesn't know about his life. About his feelings, how he feels about Stephen, because Stephen is just his friend, and he doesn't like Stephen like that, despite what his dreams say, or Peter says, or Pepper, or Nat, or anyone. Because they're all wrong. 

Tony knows he doesn't care about Stephen that way. Because he doesn't want to date him. Doesn't want to kiss, or cuddle in a way where it's not just friend cuddling, or have him kiss all over his face to make him smile, or comfort Tony after his dad has been an asshole. 

He doesn't want that. 

He doesn't want that. 

He  
Doesn't  
Want  
That. 

"Morning." Tony jumps and looks over at who said something. "Oh. Morning." Tony calms down when he sees it's just Peter. 

Not Stephen. 

"Nice hair." Tony glares at him and points a finger. "Hey, I'm being nice and making you breakfast, I can just stop."

Peter raises his hands in a form of surrender and Tony smiles. But he needs to talk about what's going on in his head because it's freaking him out. "Hey, Pete...Can we talk about something?" 

He sits up more seriously and nods, but can't hide the proud sparkle in his eye of knowing he's someone Tony trusts to talk about something serious. 

"So uh...How do I know if I...I dunno, if I like someone? Or something what would you call it? It’s basically you and MJ, how would I know I felt like that."

Tony starts plating up the eggs and bacon as if he asked something casual, but Peter is staring at him wide-eyed and jaw dropped, choosing to ignore the comment about MJ. 

Probably because it’s true. 

"Is it Stephen?" He whispers and when Tony doesn't respond, only going red, Peter has a smile that stretches across his face. "It is isn't it? Oh my god, Tony, you're so in love." 

“I didn’t say I was in love!” 

“You didn’t need to! It’s obvious that you love hi-“ 

Tony covers Peter's mouth. "Shush okay?! He's just next door. Keep quiet. I'll lock the door but you still need to be quiet about it so he doesn't hear."

Peter nods slowly. 

Then he licks Tony's hand. 

"Ew, what the fuck Peter?!"

Tony makes a face of disgust and Peter laughs. "You covered my mouth! It's only fair!" 

Tony glares at him but decided to let it go. "JARVIS, lock the workshop door for me."

There's a click and Peter crosses his hands over the table. 

"So. What made you finally realise after all this time?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aaah thank you for reading this!!! and thank you for all your kudos <3 forgive me if the next chapter takes a little longer. all of these were pre-written and now I have to write these actively, but I’ll do my best to keep them weekly :) thank you for your support!


	5. Mentor becomes the mentoree.

Ever since Tony's sudden realisation, he's been acting weird around Stephen.

Weird is an understatement, he's been completely avoiding him.

When Stephen left his house after sleeping over it was the stiffest and awkward goodbye ever. Tony didn't know what to do or how to react or what to say to anything. He's never felt like this. Anxious yet somehow just so happy and then scared again. He feels like he's never stared at a person so much in his life but he then feels so weird about it. He knows why he's staring but he also knows he definitely shouldn't be I mean, how weird is that? 

Of course Tony dated Steve, but it was nothing compared to the feeling he gets while being around Stephen. Its crazy, and it makes no sense.

That's why Tony enjoys the feeling so much.

He doesn't understand it, and a part of him rarely wants to. It's the mystery of it- the mystery of Stephen- that makes him relish this new feeling and realisation so incredibly much.

But it's also, somehow, the worst feeling ever.

'What if he catches me glancing over at him? What if Peter can't keep quiet about it? What if he tells Stephen about it and what if Stephen hates me when he does? What if he already hates me?'

In typical Tony Stark fashion, he can't shut his brain up.

It's so loud, and it's constant. He can't stop thinking that Stephen doesn't like him, doesn't want him, and why would he want him? Maybe Stephen wasn't even his friend the whole time, and maybe he just didn't like him in the first place.

But Tony likes Stephen, god, he really really likes Stephen.

He could talk about him for hours, but much to Peter's dismay, he already has.

But that's the catch. As much as he likes Stephen, he can't stand to be around him when he feels like this.

When he feels like a failure, like everything he does around him is wrong and awful and he feels sick. He can't handle that. It upsets him and scares him the more he thinks about it.

So now he's just going out of his way to avoid him. It's just that if he doesn't have to talk to them, then he won't.

"C'mon Tones. You can't avoid him forever." Tony scoffs as he gets into his car, and Peter takes his backpack off as he gets in the passengers' seat, putting it between his knees and buckling up as Tony starts the car up, making a show of revving it up.

"Watch me."

He drives out the schools parking lot and towards Peter's apartment, only because May is out and Tony's parents are not, so he's been avoiding his dad too.

"Tony! Come on, he's upset about it. He likes you."

"Maybe, but you know that he doesn't like me the same way I like him."

The younger of the two shrugged as he tugs the strings on the backpack but looks up surprised when Tony says that. 

"How could you know that? And clearly, you don't know that, because it's obvious he likes you just as much as you like him."

Tony's hands grip a little tighter on the steering wheel. He's not mad at Peter, he's scared, no matter how much he'll deny it to everyone. 

He's even more scared of Stephen feeling the same way he does than if he was rejected because Tony is going to screw it up. He always does. He can already see how it'll go.

They'll be together for what, 5 months? They'll be happy until Tony gets happy and also so annoying Stephen can't stand to be with him anymore but feels like he has to in case he upsets him, so he'll cheat on Tony and leave him anyway just making him more upset than he would have been if he was just honest from the start.

Its what happened with Steve, why would Stephen be different?

When Tony is silent, Peter's body language changes and he stiffens up.

Great job Tony.

They don't talk until they get to the apartment.

As soon as Tony parks, he gets out the car with Peter and starts to talk as they walk into the building.

The last time Tony was here was when Ben died.

"I'm sorry kid. I am. It's just..." He takes a long breath, trying to calm himself down as they step into the elevator.

He hasn't talked to anyone about this. everyone at school knew because word gets around, but people haven't heard Tony's side of the story.

So he's scared.

But Peter is looking up at him so intently as if he couldn't do anything wrong to Tony. He couldn't say anything to hurt him and Tony knows that's true.

He's such a good kid.

"After everything that happened with Steve, the thought of getting into that again is scary. That means Stephen is gonna be better than Steve was?"

"Because Stephen isn't an arrogant douchebag."

Tony manages to laugh at that. Since it happened, Peter's had a strong hate for Steve. He's probably angrier at Steve than Tony is in all honesty.

"Well, I don't know about that." 

They both smile at each other before the elevator doors open and they walk through, Tony wrapping his arm around Peter's shoulders.

"Please just give him a chance Tony. I know you'd both just be nice together."

Tony fakes a long and exasperated sigh and Peter laughs while unlocking the door.

"C'mon. You'd love to be dating him."

"Hey, put the L-word back, Parker. I haven't even talked to him in...multiple days now."

Peter drops his keys in the glass bowl that's next to the door with a disappointed look on his face and Tony holds his hands up in defence before taking one of the candies that are set out in a dish on the living room's table. 

Tony likes the Parker's house. It's homey and small, but it's nice like that. It doesn't need to be big. The furniture is comfy and May has good taste in inside decorating.

Tony's house is big, too big. It has too many windows and it's all just too much. The only thing he likes is his workshop, and it's not even his, it's his dad's. That kind of ruins it. Not kind of, it completely ruins it. 

"Anyway, enough about me. How's the new suit working out for you?" 

Peter smiles brightly at the mention of it as he sits down exhausted on the couch and yawns. Maybe Tony should add a bedtime setting on it. 

"Oh, it's good, really good. I mean I haven't been fatally stabbed yet so that's a bonus."

Tony's about to give himself an exaggerated compliment before realising what Peter said.

"Fatally? What about just a normal stab?"

"..."

"Peter!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I'm a little late with this one, and I'm sorry there's no Stephen! I just thought it would be nice to have some irondad and spideyson action while also understanding everything that happened with Steve. I hope you all enjoyed! :)


	6. A confession.

Stephen is confused by Tony's sudden change in attitude and, honestly, a little hurt. 

He hasn't said anything or brought it up with him, but he wants too.

I mean, how could he just ditch him like that? It's not fair to him. He didn't do anything wrong...Did he?

Maybe he said something to Tony one day that just pushed him too far, maybe he did something during his sleep while at the sleepover.

There's an endless list of things he could have done to Tony to accidentally make him mad and end their friendship because, well, he doesn't really know Tony.

He knows some things. He knows his favourite food is cheeseburgers, and that AC/DC is his favourite band, that science is his favourite subject, his favourite colour is red and he's goddamn smart. But anyone could learn that about Tony from a five-minute conversation, not a three-year-long friendship, which just leaves Stephen wondering why Tony isn't more open with him. 

Of course, he doesn't force it on him. If Tony didn't want to be open with Stephen that's okay. He would be a hypocrite if he said it wasn't because he hasn't told Tony about his sister- or that he even had one- and why would he? Donna isn't alive anymore so she doesn't have any input on the situation. 

Stephen knows he's not always easy to get along with and sometimes he does that on purpose to avoid even the possibility of getting hurt like Donna's passing did, but he also doesn't like being alone. 

He knows he wants Tony, but he's so scared of actually getting him.

He knows he can't wait forever, but now it looks like Tony doesn't even want to be friends and especially anything more. He saw Peter post a video of Tony failing to cook something on his Instagram story so he knows that Tony isn't avoiding everyone, just him. 

They haven't had a real conversation in weeks and Stephen needs to know if this is permanent or if something is just going on with Tony. Tony usually either sleeps on Peters floor or goes home at any time from six to ten o'clock at night because he worries about keeping Peter's aunt up, so Stephen will just wait until around eleven to message Peter and ask what's going on, just to be safe.

Stephen checks the time and sees that it's only eight o'clock. Still not late enough. He huffs out a large breath and puts his phone face down on his bed next to him, picking up one of his pillows on his bed and hugging it close to his chest and rests his chin on the top of it until he's just on his side and curling around it.

He closes his eyes and lets his brain just do it's own thing until he can talk to Pete.

How did he get himself into this mess? And why did he? Maybe he should have just stayed a loner and not met Tony and started to fall for him. And how much does he even like Tony? It's been...definitely at most a year or two. That's a little sad but he didn't really know how to respond to it. He and Christine had only just broken up and he was still figuring out who he actually was as a person. 

Donna's death was still pretty new in his life at that point and he was still healing. He'd still have frequent nightmares about swimming around, looking for her in the lake before finding her floating face down in it. It was horrifying and he's never felt like such...such a failure. 

It wasn't fair to Donna, and it's still not fair that he wasn't able to save her and he's still the one that is so upset about it. She doesn't even have the option to be upset. 

Stephen is a Grade-A asshole, and he knows that.

His eyes start to droop and he let's them, the tight grip he has on the pillow loosening as he lets his body relax and his mind too. It'll just be a nap. He's sure he'll wake up in time to call Peter, and even if he wasn't, he's too lazy to set an alarm now right as he's about to fall asleep.

————  
Stephen feels a vibration next to his head and his phone is ringing. He knows it is but does he have to answer it? How long was he asleep for?? It doesn’t feel like a long time. 

He groans and picks up his phone, and the call ends right as he does. Damn. He looks at who called and his eyes widen immediately, not sleepy anymore.

1 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘛𝘰𝘯𝘺 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘬.

Stephens not fully sure why he has Tony’s full name in his contacts, he doesn’t know any other Tony’s, but it just makes it even nicer every time he gets a call from him. 

He slides the notification and goes to the ‘call back’ button, and it starts calling him. 

He answers almost immediately.

“Oh- hey uh I was just about to call you.” 

Stephen hears Tony laugh nervously on the other end of the call and Stephen thinks about what to say. 

He should of thought about this before he actually called him. 

“Yeah uh well. I saw that you called me because it woke me up so I thought I should call you back.”

There’s silence on the other end of the line and Stephen feels like he messed up. 

“Unless-unless that’s weird. I can hang up if you want-“

“Please don’t. I was just uh I was just calling to tell you something...But if you were sleeping then I should probably let you just go back to sleep now.”

“No no,” Stephen sits up in bed now, intrigued and completely awake now. That’s probably gonna be an issue considering that it’s twelve in the morning now. “Don’t worry. I’m not tired anymore. I was asleep for six hours or something like that so...What did you want to tell me?”

There’s another pause before Stephen hears Tony take a deep breath. 

And then he talks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aah i’m sorry this is so late and honestly pretty bad :( i didn’t have time to write so i did it all last night and this morning but i’ll try to stay up to date. love you all <3


	7. A choice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this is one of my worse chapters :( y'all deserve better, but I still hope you enjoy and I love you all <3

"So...What did you want to tell me?”

There’s another pause before Stephen hears Tony take a deep breath.

And then he talks.

"I uh. I think you're really great Stephen. And I thought that's all it was for ages, just thinking you were a cool person but then I thought about it more and had a...A really weird dream honestly and realised that I really like you. As in I uh. I wanna date you, Stephen."

Stephen feels his mouth run dry and has to repeat it in his head to make sure he actually said that. 

Tony likes him.

Tony LIKES him.

"And if we're not in the same place and you don't feel the same, which would make sense because I have no idea how you feel about me, that's cool and okay and we can forget any of this happened and blame Peter but. I just wanted you to know and if it makes you uncomfortab-"

"Shush. Stop talking."

It's silent on the other end.

"Sorry, that sounded mean, but uh. Are you at your house?"

"Yes but-"

"Don't leave. Go into your room and I'll see you soon."

Stephen hangs up and runs out his room, getting his jacket off the hanger for it by the door and putting it on as quickly as he can, puts his phone in his pocket and leaves his house with a huge smile on his face.

He can't believe this. He genuinely cant.

TONY STARK wants to date HIM.

Should he tell someone? Would that be weird? He's sure Peter would want to hear.

So after he buys some white, red, and yellow flowers from the nearby florist he takes his phone from his pocket and goes to Peters contact, calling excitedly. It takes a while for him to pick up but when he does he doesn't sound great.

"Hey, Stephen uh- can I call you back later? Kind of- SHIT!"

He can hear crashing on the other line and stops in his tracks, his smiling starting to fall from his face.

"Peter? What's wrong?"

There's heavy breathing and crying before he finally gets an answer.

"I-I was doing a normal patrol and things kind of went really bad, the building is on top of me uhm I can't- can't call the ambulance and need help."

Fuck.

Tony or Peter. 

Peter might die but Tony might hate him...

"If you're busy though that- that's oka-"

"Where are you? I'll be there soon."

Stephen only half regrets what he says after he says it, squeezing the flowers stems out of frustration and shutting his eyes. There's not enough time to call Tony when the kid's life is on the line.

Peter tells him the address and he assures him he and an ambulance will be there soon before he hangs up.

As he's running there and is trying to get through to 911, he realises Tony's house is in this neighbourhood, just across the street. 

Stephen is stuck on the street before he runs in the direction of Tony's house.

He's an awful person.

An awful, horrible person.

When get gets to his house, Stephen nervously goes up to the front door and lays the flowers down on the porch.

"I'm sorry Tones."

He whispers before running back out and to the building where Peter is, or more like the building Peter is trapped under.

"Hello 911, what's your emergency?"

The voice makes him jump a little because he forgot he was calling them.

"Hi, my friend is trapped under a building. He can't move and I'm scared if he's stuck there for much longer he'll end up with permanent damage to his lungs or spine, both, or die."

Stephen is out of breath from running and telling them all the information by the time he gets there but covers his mouth in shock when he sees the destruction.

"PETER?!" 

He's screaming his name over and over in an attempt to find him, getting as close as he can without worrying he's just going to send more bricks hurtling down when he hears a tiny and weak voice.

"Stephen! I-I'm down here I'm stuck I can't move I can't breath please-"

He can hear Peter break into a coughing fit and part of him wants to sigh from the relief of knowing he's alive but the other part is subconsciously holding his breath out of fear. 

"It's okay Peter okay don't worry! An ambulance is coming and I'm here and they're gonna get you out in time okay?! I promise!"

Right on cue, he hears the sirens and turns around to see the flashing red and blue lighting up the night sky and filling him with an overwhelming sense of reassurance as they park up beside the rubble and Stephen steps away.

"They're here Peter! You're gonna be okay!"

Stephen wipes the tears he didn't know where rolling down his cheeks and buried his head in his hands.

He made the right decision.

Right?

Peter is alive and safe but...He can't shake the thought of Tony sat in his room, waiting for Stephen to show up and then he doesn't.

What if Tony never forgives him?

After seeing how he thinks of Steve after it's been a while...Stephen doesn't think he can come back from this. 

Flowers aren't enough.

\------

Tony's been sat on his bed for what feels like hours, repeatedly checking his phone and out his window, waiting for Stephen.

But he doesn't show.

When his bedroom door suddenly opens, he feels hope overwhelm him.

He looks over and sees his dad there, and all of it drains out of him, and he's somehow more miserable than he was before.

"What is it, dad?"

"The hell is this?" He glares and puts the flowers down on Tony's bed, who grabs them quickly and looks over them and sees a note tied to the wrapping on the bouquet.

'𝐇𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐟𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐬. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮.

\- 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐧.'

Tony feels tears brim in his eyes but knows his dad is there still, so he blinks quickly to try and keep them away and focus on his breathing.

"Well? Who left it?" 

Tony purses his lips before shaking his head, looking up and faking a smile.

"Uh. I don't know. I guess just someone from school. Or my friend's aunt, she said she was going to give me something so. Yeah."

His dad nods and starts to leave.

He doesn't care, and as soon as the door closes Tony just lets the tears fall out of his eyes. 

Why did he tell Stephen?! He clearly doesn't seem like he feels the same. Otherwise, he would have waited by the door, right?

He didn't even sound like he felt the same on the call.

He's gonna hate him now. Stephen is gonna hate him and that's why he only left the flowers.

Tony kicks the flowers off the bed and pulls his knees up to his chest, wrapping his arms around his legs and his chin on his knees. 

He doesn't even wanna go to the workshop. He just wants to stay here and cry about how much of a fucking idiot he is.

After a while of just crying, he thinks he should call Peter. Peter will help.

Of course, he doesn't blame Peter. He loves that kid. He'd do anything for him. 

But when he picks up his phone, he sees something else that makes his heart stop for the third time today.

"𝘚𝘵𝘦𝘱𝘩𝘦𝘯: 𝘗𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭. 𝘗𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘰𝘯. 𝘐𝘮 𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘺."

Fuck.

Peter is more important than anything, but Tony is still upset about Stephen.

Flowers aren't enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> flowers aren't enough :(


	8. Mothers.

Tony drives himself to the hospital as fast as he can and as soon as he's there, runs up to the front desk. 

"I'm looking for a Peter Parker? Is he here? Is he okay?" 

The man at the reception nonchalantly nods and points his pen in the direction of a corridor diagonal from them both, which Tony turns around to look at.

It's painted a pleasant shade of yellow, which he assumes is meant to comfort people, but it's doing the opposite for Tony. He's sure there's a sickly green hint to the yellow and it makes him feel like throwing up.

Not that he didn't already before. It's just worse now. 

"Down that corridor and 5th door on the right."

Tony nods and thanks to the man before going down and following his instructions. In the room, he sees May, Stephen, and most importantly Peter sat upright in the bed, in a hospital gown and eating a Cuban sandwich, his favourite. 

Tony lets out a sigh of relief and looks over at May for permission to come in, which she grants with just a small nod and Tony steps inside, sitting on a chair next to May rather than the one next to Stephen.

He simply gives him a side glance and looks over at Peter.

"Hey, Pete. How're you feeling?" 

He laughs a little and looks at Tony humorously. "Like I just got a concrete building dropped on me."

Tony huffs a laugh too and reaches out, putting a hand on Peter's shin comfortingly, because it's directly in front of him and he can't see a cast on it so he assumes it's not broken.

"Sounds rough. Maybe tonight's cursed to select people."

He sees Stephen look at Tony with guilty eyes and then down at the floor instead.

Tony doesn't care anymore. He's only here for Peter and for May too, but not Stephen. 

May excuses herself, saying she's going to get coffee, and Tony is about to stand up and follow her before Peter weakly grabs his arm.

"Can you at least sign my cast before you leave?"

"Nope," Tony mutters, as he sits down again and takes the pen off of the clipboard at the bottom of the bed. "definitely not."

Peter giggles sleepily and Tony writes 'TONY STARK :)" in all capitals and large on the cast before writing "(AKA your 3rd best friend)" smaller under it in brackets before smiling and ruffling Peters hair, making glare before leaving to follow May.

"Hey May!" She turns around and waits for Tony to catch up, and he smiles at her when he does. 

"Hey."

"Hi, kid. You okay?"

The kid in question shrugs and walks beside her into the canteen.

"So so. My night has been pretty crappy but not anything compared to you and Peter's."

She laughs as she goes over to the instant coffee machine and turns it on, getting a decaf.

"Yeah, this is gonna go down in...at least the top 10...How was your night other than this? I expect you were sleeping?"

Speaking of sleep, Tony probably should. He hasn't slept in for a while now and he knows he needs to, but he keeps getting night terrors about so many things he doesn't even want to risk it.

"Not exactly. I was crying because of a certain someone still sat in Peter's hospital room who's not Peter."

May looks at him shocked as she pays for her coffee and moves out the way so Tony can get his.

"Stephen? What happened with you and Stephen? Did you break up?"

Tony looks at her amused and raises an eyebrow.

"Broke up? May we were never even together."

She looks even more surprised and maybe even a little bit embarrassed as she takes a sip of her coffee which makes Tony laugh for the first time that night.

"Oh...I'm sorry. You both just acted like that."

Tony nods slowly and watches as his cup fills up, and then puts the lid on top when it finishes dispensing the liquid.

"I know we did, that's why I told him that I wanted to date earlier. He was like 'Okay wait at your house' and I did and after what felt like forever my dad found some flowers on the doorstep. There was a note written in Stephens handwriting but it wasn't anything romantic. It honestly sounded more like he just wanted to forget any of what I said happened, which makes it more confusing for me because then why lead me on and make me think he feels the same way I do?"

He takes a deep breath after that speech and looks down at May. Tony is smaller than almost everyone but May is not one of them, which he teases her and Peter mercilessly about because they're the only people he can do that to.

She sighs and puts a hand on his cheek before running it through his matted hair, and Tony has to stop himself leaning into it.

He knows how horrible it sounds, but he's slightly jealous of Peter. He hates himself for it, but he is. 

Tony knows Peter would do anything to just have both parents, whether it be his birth parents or Ben to come back, but he has May, who is the mother anyone could hope for.

Tony would give up his dad for May.

Tony loves his mom so much but she's not a...mom. Not a real mom. She doesn't hug him or praise him. 

Tony doesn't have a real 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺. His dad is a sleazy alcoholic and his mom just kind of exists at this point, so he had to make his own family in his friends.

May helps with the mom-shaped hole in his heart. He would never tell anyone that, especially not Peter, because she's all that Peter has. He would never want to take that away from him, not after everything he's already lost.

"I'm sure he didn't mean to hurt you Tones. Do the times match up with when he went to find Peter?" 

Tony shrugs and starts wishing he was smaller than her, or younger than he is.

He doesn't want to be graduating in less than a year. He wants to be a little kid and he wants to be held and comforted and told he's going to be okay.

He doesn't know how to be an adult and he doesn't want to be an adult, but he knows he needs to start.

Adults make big decisions with money, right? Well, he has money. He can use it. He doesn't know any other way to show his appreciation for other people.

He looks at May again and holds onto her shoulder.

"Let me pay for it."

She looks up at him, confusion was written all over her face.

"W-what the coffee? I don't need you to-"

"No, May, the hospital bill."

Now she looks shocked, her mouth hanging open and Tony smiles nervously at her.

"I hope that doesn't sound rude. But please let me pay for it. It won't even-"

"No."

With just one word she shuts Tony up.

"No, Tony, I can't take money from a kid. That...That's so messed up, no!"

"Then don't think about it as if you're taking it from me because you're not! It's me repaying you for everything you've done for me, you and Peter both."

He looks at her with more desperation and he can tell shes softening by the minute.

"But it's still your money."

"And there's nothing I would rather spend it on."

She's silent for a minute before finally nodding, much to Tony's relief.

"Okay. I'll pay you back eventually-"

"Please don't. As I said, it's a favour."

She genuinely smiles slightly at that and they sort out the way they're going to pay.

It all works out in the end.

Tony doesn't feel as shitty or guilty, Peter is getting looked after and May doesn't have to worry about Peter or the money, and frankly, that's all Tony cares about.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> barely any Peter or Stephen! sorry :( i just really wanted to focus on tony here, Stephen and Peter only (i think-) in the next one!


	9. Advice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> no tony or may here, just stephen and peter. maybe that's disappointing oops :(

Tony leaves the room and Peter giggles sleepily, looking down at his cast and Tony's signature.

"Steph look how cool the signature is. The writing is cool."

Stephen nods half-heartedly and Peter tilts his head.

"What's up? You okay?"

Stephen smiles slightly but shakes his head.

"Don't worry about me, Peter. You just got your body crushed under a building."

He fake glares and takes a drink of the water on his bedside, looking at Stephen with a sceptical look and when he finishes he glares.

"Stephen. It's very obvious you're bothering me and I'm gonna kick you out my hospital room."

This time Stephen does laugh a little then, which makes Peter feel slightly better, and then sighs, shaking his head.

"Alright, okay. Uh. Earlier tonight, Tony called me and said he...He had feelings about me. And I asked him to wait at his house until he arrives, so I go and get flowers. I was gonna call you and tell you about it because I know you've always wanted us to be together, but then all of that stuff happened with the building. So I wrote on the note thing but I just...I know it wasn't enough. I know he's upset with me because I should have done something better, but I was worried about you."

Peter looks down with regretful eyes, mumbling out a sorry and looking down directly at his cast.

Oh god, now he's upset Peter too.

"Peter don't be upset, it's not your fault...What even happened tonight? I know you were as Spider-Man but who was it?"

Peter shrugs and goes to readjust the pillows before Stephen does it for him, helping him sit up properly.

"I don't know man. It was some..guy. He had weird metal blade wings and a stupid mask with green glowing eyes. He was doing illegal deals of weapons and they were crazy futuristic and stuff, I went to stop him but...You know what happened."

Stephen nods and reaches out, putting his hand on Peter's arm and trying to give him a comforting smile.

"You did great still Pete. You managed to bring him down with you, they found him under the rubble too."

Peter's eyes widen and Stephen can't quite tell what the emotion behind them is.

"Really?" 

Stephen nods again and sees a little bit of a smile on Peter's face. "So I took him down? He's gonna go to jail?"

"Yep. You did it. You're a hero." 

Peter laughs a little and shrugs.

"Just looking out for the little guy...Wait did anyone find out about the uh...Spider-Man?"

He whispers the last part and Stephen shakes his head.

"No. I told them it was just an advanced fake suit and you wanted to do the right thing."

Peter laughs at that and throws his head back.

"What?! C'mon man I was stressed- and it worked!"

They both laugh but then Stephen starts thinking about Tony again, and Stephens smile falls and so does Peters.

"Sorry about Tony. He cares about you Steph. We both know that. He will forgive you and will understand y'know, a person's life was in danger. But I don't think the fact you came to help me was the problem, I think it was that you never said you liked him back...Why didn't you?"

The other shakes his head and shrugs.

"I. I don't know. I just couldn't. I was scared. I thought maybe he was tricking me for a joke or something and I also didn't want to confess over the phone which is why I went to get flowers. But now I know I really screwed up."

Peter pauses before he nods.

"Yeah. Yeah, you kind of did." 

Stephen huffs a laugh and looks at the floor.

"Well. You should tell him still-you want to date him I mean. You need to confess."

Stephen knows he does, he knows it's the right thing to do and the only thing he can do to try and fix it. But now isn't the right time. Peter's hurt badly and it's more important than anything else.

"I think I'm gonna wait a while..."

Peter looks at him, disbelief covering his face, before looking down at his bed again.

'𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘪𝘵,' Peter thinks. '𝘚𝘵𝘦𝘱𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦.'

"Honestly, I'm in shock of how Christine ever even considered dating you, dude. The longer you wait, the more convinced Tony is gonna be in his head that you don't feel the same way or even care about him."

Stephen raises an eyebrow at Peter who just looks back down at his cast.

"Okay then, relationship expert, how much experience do you have?"

He gives Stephen an innocent grin while looking back up again and answering.

"Close to none. But you know what I am an expert on? Tony. I could have a PhD in Anthony Edward Stark-ology, so I don't even need to talk to him to know what he wants, even needs, from you right now. He needs you to go and talk to him and tell you how you feel and why you did what you did."

Peters grin lessons to a more sympathetic smile and Stephen can't think of an argument. Tony is more closed off with him than Peter but he still knows him, and he knows that Peter's right.

"You did mess up Stephen but...In an overall sense, I think it was the right decision. Just the little intricacies like the flower note and not saying things back screwed you over in the long run. But you could go and make it up to him right now. Nothing's stopping you. He wants to talk to you, so go and talk to him."

Stephen nods yet again to reassure himself and stands up, a little more confidence with him than he had before.

"Okay. Okay, I'll go and talk to him...But after him and May get back. Unless they went to different places to each other?"

Panicked thoughts are running through Stephen's head again and Peter gives him a look telling him to cut it out and calm down. 

"Just wait until they get back, ask Tony to speak somewhere. He'll say yes and then you can talk about it out there or outside the hospital or both go home I dunno, and it will all be okay."

"Right, but what if he says no?"

Peter takes a couple of agonizingly long seconds in Stephens opinion to think about this before answering.

"Well, if he says no, I think you might just wanna give up."

Fantastic.

"...Very reassuring. Thank you, Peter." 

He gives a proud smile and Stephen rolls his eyes. 

"You're welcome."

Peter takes a pen off the bedside table again and Stephen sighs dramatically, already knowing what he's going to ask.

"Maybe for bestowing my knowledge on you, you could return the favour and sign my cast?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i absolutely promise you guys youre gonna get ironstrange next chapter :) but after getting them together, i think i might end the story, or at least end weekly updates bc it's started feeling more like a chore now :( i wanna give them a good end tho, so hopefully i can :) thank you for your support!


	10. Opening up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> in which the talk about their feelings in person (finally).

As Stephen finishes adding an exclamation mark, May and Tony come back both with coffee and smiles on their faces.

"Oh hey, you're back!"

Peter immediately starts going on to May about something and Tony looks over at Stephen while drinking from his to-go cup. His tongue is slightly poking out his mouth from the concentration he's putting into writing Peter's cast, he guesses.

Sometimes Stephen gets random shakes in his hands so he has to try hard to make his writing okay, so maybe that's what's happening now?

Or maybe he's nervous...But why would he be nervous? It just doesn't make any sense.

When Peter can see that Stephen signed it, he hurriedly takes the pen and puts it at his other bedside, startling Stephen slightly.

"Okay uh, May and I need to talk privately so can you two just step outside for a minute?"

May looks just as confused as the other two, but Tony stands up and nods.

"Alright. Have fun."

He steps outside already and Stephen gives Peter a pleading look.

"Can I not just put my hands over my ears? Play my music loud?"

Peter gives him a stern look and shakes his head. "Nope. Not. Go on."

Stephen gives him an even more desperate look but Peter's expression is unwavering, which leads to Stephen sighing inwardly and also leaving the room, his feet dragging slightly.

May turns back to her nephew, who has an excited smile on his face.

"So...What did you wanna talk about?"

Peter turns to May, tilting his head in confusion before remembering what she means. "Oh! No, I don't need to talk about anything, I just needed them to talk to each other about their feelings because they're idiots who can't do it themselves."

May stares at him in disbelief and he does an exaggerated villain laugh before it turns into a coughing fit, probably because of his broken rib.

Tony sees Stephen also walk out the door and feels his eyebrows raise, but tries to hide his obvious shock and looks straight ahead at the door ahead of him.

He's stood leaning against the wall next to Peters room and drinking his coffee at way too fast of a pace when he sees Stephen sit next to him.

"Tony-"

"Nope."

He drinks the last of his coffee and throws it in the bin across from him, seeing it land directly in front of the trash can and sighs

"Nailed it."

He walks over to pick it up and Stephen tries not to laugh but looks up at him when he comes back.

"Please. Please can we talk?"

He knows he has a tone of despair to his voice but he needs to fix this with Tony, because even if Tony doesn't want to be his...Boyfriend, he's still always been Stephen's best friend and he doesn't want to lose that.

He 𝘤𝘢𝘯'𝘵 lose that. He can't lose Tony.

Tony looks at his face for a couple of seconds before swallowing nothing because suddenly his mouth is chalky dry.

"Okay. We can talk."

It's barely a whisper but he knows Stephen heard it because he pats his hand on the seat next to him, which Tony stares at for another few seconds before sitting in it.

"First of all, I want to know what was going on with the flowers...And the note. It was a shitty note.

Stephen laughs a little and nods.

"Yeah. Yeah, it was. I'm sorry about that Tony. Uh. The note...I had just gone to the florist that's in the street between our houses to get you some and thought 'Hey I'll call Peter and tell him the good news, he would love to know we're together' so I called him but then he got in trouble. I still wanted to give you the flowers though, so I managed to find someone a pen and that was the first thing that came to my mind."

Stephen looks at Tony nervously but can't quite place his expression. He looks...like he never has before.

Tony feels...shocked again, to say the least. In his mind, that means that Stephen...

That he...

Stephen looks down too, out of embarrassment, but then keeps rambling.

"And I know it's a stupid note and it didn't make sense but-"

"You feel the same way?"

Stephen looks up too, each knowing they're both blushing a ridiculous amount but nods slowly.

"Yeah. I do."

Tony feels a smile spread across his cheeks but Stephen feels almost paralysed in fear.

Stephen feels like he's just not cared about at all sometimes. But the fact Tony Stark notices him and maybe wants to be his boyfriend is shocking but it's also the best thing...Ever.

"I like you a lot, Tony. And after now I'm not gonna mess up again."

Tony smiles more softly and doesn't think too much before he leans forward quickly, giving Stephen the quickest kiss ever recorded in history probably, feeling his whole face get hot but tries hiding it with a smart ass grin and sitting back again.

"I know you won't Steph. I get it. You just wanted to help Peter and if you'd of gone to me instead Peter he probably wouldn't have made it. So."

Stephen manages to break out of his frozen trance and nods.

"Yeah...Yeah. I'll take you on a proper date to make up for it soon I promise. It'll be great. And I'll give you the flowers in person. Without a note."

Tony laughs at that and nods.

"Good. I think I'm done with notes for a while now."

They both laugh a little, embarrassed clearly, but Stephen stands up suddenly.

"I'm gonna go and get stuff from the vending machine okay?"

Tony nods again and smiles, also standing up and stepping back near Peter's room.

"Okay! Yeah, cool. I'll see you in a minute?"

"Mhm! Okay uh...Bye."

Tony gives a small wave and Stephen starts walking down the hall to the canteen area, hiding the skip in his step before he looks over his shoulder and sees Tony walking into the hospital room.

Stephen can't stop smiling.

Maybe it was just a little awkward but he's still ecstatic. Tony doesn't hate him and now he's his boyfriend.

Kind of.

He's not sure yet, but whatever they are, he's happy about it.

Hopefully, they can all be happy now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is going to be the last chapter of this story! Anything else will be a small add on to it but i won't put it here, just make it a part of the bigger series. I hope you all enjoyed it! I wanted to make them confess but I didn't want to do too much, so I hope this is short and sweet :) thank you all for your support, i love you so much <3


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